A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized the class action request filed against the QMJHL and the CHL concerning the sexual and physical abuse that junior hockey players have subjected to recruits over the years.
All hockey players who suffered abuse while they were minors and playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League since 1er July 1969, will be able to participate in the collective action against the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), its teams and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) which oversees it.
Judge Jacques G. Bouchard granted the status of “representative on behalf of the group” to ex-player Carl Latulippe, drafted when he was 16 and who played in the QMJHL during the 1994-1995 and 1995-1996.
Carl Latulippe, now 46 years old, had already recounted the abuse of which he says he was a victim and which is included in the request for collective action. This includes forced masturbation, being confined naked in a group in bus toilets, forced consumption of large quantities of alcohol, sexual assault with injuries that he witnessed, all events that occurred at the Saguenéens of Chicoutimi and the Voltigeurs of Drummondville, but not among the Harfangs of Beauport, who have since become the Remparts of Québec.
Dismiss frivolous requests
According to Judge Bouchard, “the heart of the announced debate lies around the alleged negligence of each of the defendants who would have even established it as a system” and the burden of proof “will undoubtedly pose a serious challenge to the plaintiff”.
In his judgment, the judge recalls that “the authorization procedure does not constitute a pre-investigation on the merits”, that “the objective at this stage is to rule out requests which are frivolous or manifestly ill-founded” and that “the burden placed on plaintiffs is to establish the existence of an arguable case.”
Thus, “this is a filtering and verification mechanism,” wrote the judge of the Superior Court of Quebec.
Permanent after-effects
Carl Latulipe is claiming from the defendants “the sum of $400,000 in non-pecuniary damages, with interest” and “the sum of $250,000 in monetary damages, with interest”.
Also, the former hockey player requests that the QMJHL, its teams and the CHL pay “a total sum of $15,000,000 as punitive and exemplary damages on behalf of the group, with interest.”
Carl Latulippe claims to have suffered several psychological after-effects following this abuse, including drug and gambling addictions which prevented him from maintaining his income.
Also, he says he was never able to set foot in an arena again and refused his son to play hockey, for fear that he would also suffer abuse.